Legend of Zelda: The Stone of Ages
by Regina Raptorum
Summary: A powerful artifact has been stolen, and only unlikely allies stand between the culprit and the end of all things. A modern day Legend of Zelda. In progress, minor spoilers. Please RR.
1. Theft!

**Author's Note:** OMGS! Another fic! Madness! This is a little project I started after some intense discussion with my brother, concerning the Legend of Zelda series, and what a modern Legend of Zelda would be like. This first chapter might move a little slow, but things'll pick up. There might be some surprises in store, but I promise all the major players will show up. I'll try to update this weekly.

Please feed the fanfic muse; she thrives on reviews.

I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in it. I don't have money to be sued for, and I make no money off of this. Got it? Good.

* * *

Rex Gant was a big man. Enormous, really. His thinning red hair and lines starting to develop on his face indicated that he was well into middle age, but he was still imposing, and not just because of his size. It might have been the sharp cast of his features, or the fact that all of the bulk under his expensive black suit was still nothing but pure muscle, but something about him that made it obvious that this was a powerful man. A man not to be trifled with.

A man who was, at the moment, being rudely awakened.

The phone was ringing. Why was the phone ringing? He cracked an eye to look at the clock. It was ringing at half past three in the morning. That was never a good sign. Muttering obscenities under his breath, he snatched the reciever off the hook. "Do you know what time it is? This had better be damn good. If something is not _on fire_, I promise you, very soon, someone _will_ be."

The voice on the other end wasn't perturbed. "Nothing is on fire, Mr. Gant. But there's been a break-in. I thought you should be informed."

He almost snarled. "You saw fit to wake me for a simple robbery? That's what I pay you for. To deal with these things. Even if it's corporate espionage, it could have waited until a decent hour."

"It wasn't an ordinary robbery. Or corporate espionage," the maddeningly calm voice continued. "It was the Antiquities Wing."

He sat up, suddenly alert. The Antiquities Wing was his private museum and collection of oddities. "What did we lose?" And some of the oddities were better left alone...

"Your most recent acquisition, sir. The white stone."

He swore. In several languages. The white stone was one of his prized possessions, and had taken a good deal of time and money to obtain. It was a thing of near-myth, and, as he was in a position to know, no small power. It could be dangerous.

He wanted it back.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. I expect to have all the surveillance footage and all relevant details on hand when I arrive. Has the security team been briefed?"

"Yes, sir. I have already seen to both."

"Good. Was anything else stolen?" Someone was going to pay for this. He was not a man who took being robbed lightly.

"No, sir." And now there was the faintest trace of unease on the other end of the line. "Just the stone. Nothing else was so much as touched."

So they had known what they wanted, and taken only that... It wasn't comforting. There was only one reason to break into his collection to take but one thing, especially when the item in question didn't look nearly as impressive as some of the other things in the collection. Someone else knew what it was. What it could do. "Very good. Fifteen minutes."

"Yes, sir." The call was terminated.

He got up and started dressing. He had a feeling this wasn't going to end well. It certainly wouldn't end well for the thief, when he got his hands on him.


	2. Someone Who Can

**Author's Note:** And here's chapter 2 for you. Things start moving a little. I might go ahead and post chapter 3 and introduce my other main char, I'm still thinking about it. I do feel the need to say there are no real major ocs in this fic. You'll see. Thanks to those who have reviewed so far. (Also, any email addresses and websites listed aren't intended to lead to anything real, and if they do... it was an accident.)

Please feed the fanfic muse with reviews.

Again, I have no money to be sued for, and I don't own these characters, or anything from Legend of Zelda. Which sucks, because how cool would having some of that gear be?

* * *

It was good that he had never seen fit to bother with a chauffer. With the kind of mood he was in, it was as well that he didn't have to wait for anyone else to get dressed. He barely had the patience to wait for the traffic lights. But, exactly fifteen minutes after he'd hung up the phone, he was in the private elevator leading to his office.

He found about what he'd expected. His ruthlessly efficient secretary had already dealt with the police and the necessary irritations connected to the break in. He handed Gant a folder. "All the relevant data. I've sent the surveillance feeds to your computer."

Gant nodded, taking the file. As he started to flip through it, he asked, "Did anyone see anything?"

The secretary shook his head. "No. The first time the guards had any indication that something was wrong was when the alarm sounded. And by the time they got there, there was no one to be found."

Gant scowled. "That's nice. All right, I'm sure you've got other things to do. Go home. You can't do more until tomorrow anyway."

"Yes, sir." The secretary withdrew, leaving him alone in his office.

The files he'd pulled didn't have anything immediately useful. Just the description of what had been taken, the broken display case, the limited information the police had gotten so far. Irritated, he turned to the video files on his computer. He clicked through each one of them, looking for anything.

Perhaps no one else would have noticed the glitch that appeared in each camera feed in sequence, or they would have dismissed it as a technical error. But Gant was familiar with more than just technology, and there was a reason he collected the things he did.

He thoughtfully watched the rolling glitch, until it reached the display case with the white stone, which shattered. The camera glitched again, briefly rolling into snow before righting itself. The stone was gone.

He considered it. The feeds hadn't told him who had stolen from him, but it did tell him one thing. Whoever it was knew certain kinds of magic. It took a rare wizard to disappear from cameras. And if that was the case, it would take a certain kind of man to get it back. The police did an admirable job, but this was out of their purview. Let them investigate, but he'd lay a bet they would not find anything.

But there was someone who could.

He opened his email client, then began typing rapidly.

_To: tsage  
From: gant  
Subject: Another Contract_

_The Oracle Foundation has always done very good work for my company, and I have no hesitation about turning to you again. Perhaps you remember the contract you fufilled for me three months ago, leading to my acquisition of the Stone of Ages. I regret to say that this has been stolen from me, by persons unknown. I would leave this matter to the police, but there are certain indications this crime is outside of their range of experience._

_If you could reccommend a capable, discreet individual who can resolve this matter, I will be most grateful. You will be paid your usual fee, and your agent will be compensated handsomly for arranging the return of the Stone, with a bonus for discovering the thief's name and location._

_Rex Gant  
CEO Gamelon Enterprises_


	3. Ronin

**Author's Note:** Oh, look, a new chapter! And introducing my other main character, no less! I'm wondering how long it'll take people to figure out what I'm up to. X3 Anyway. Some more exposition, there'll be some conflict in the next couple of chapters. I apologize for the fact that it takes things so long to get started, but the way the story wants to be is the way it'll go~. Again, any websites or email addresses mentioned in this story shouldn't actually exist... if they do, that was not my intention.

Anyway, as per usual, I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the people or objects therein. I don't have any money to be sued for, and it's not like my fanfictions are profitable. They're just fun.

* * *

Sunlight poured through the window onto Ronin's face, and dragged him unwillingly out of sleep. He sat up, grumbling, and wishing that he'd had the foresight to set up the coffee maker when he'd got in last night. Jeeze, what time had it been? Late nights weren't new to him, but he'd had to chase a freaking dodongo all over the subway, and it tired him out. He'd thought they were extinct. Clearly, he wasn't trying hard enough.

But there was no point in frumping about it. With the sun up, he wouldn't get back to sleep. And anyway, he needed to see if there were any jobs coming in. He booted up his laptop, then stumbled into the kitchen of his tiny apartment to make coffee.

By the time he'd had his coffee and felt a bit more alive, he'd logged into his email account and had started scanning through it. "Spam, spam, spam, porn, spam, virus, spam... Oh, hello." After clearing his inbox of the useless crap, he opened an email that looked promising.

_To: oncefuturehero  
From: tsage  
Subject: Job_

_Mr. Ronin -_

_We have a recovery contract on the books that you are being considered for. Important, but dangerous. Good pay from a reliable client._

_Please reply immediately if interested. Details forthcoming upon acceptance._

_- The Oracle Foundation "Without wisdom, power is cruel. Without courage, wisdom is meaningless."_

He thought about it for a minute, then shrugged. "Why the hell not?" He replied in the affirmative. The Oracle Foundation hadn't steered him wrong yet, and it was usually jobs right up his alley.

A few minutes later, a reply bounced back.

_To: oncefuturehero  
From: tsage  
Subject: Re: Job_

_Mr. Ronin -_

_We are pleased to do business with you again. The contract is as follows:_

_An artifact known as the Stone of Ages was recently stolen from a private collection in the hands of Rex Gant, CEO of Gamelon Enterprises. Mr. Gant would like a discreet contracter to retrieve this artifact. Currently, the identity of the thief is not known, though Mr. Gant reports indications it was someone with esoteric abilities. Someone of your skill is needed._

_Due to the nature of the theft and the client, we will arrange a meeting with Mr. Gant in order to provide further information. However, we should impress upon you that the Stone of Ages is a powerful artifact, and can be dangerous in the wrong hands. This matter needs to be resolved as fast as possible._

_We will contact you again with details for the meeting._

_- The Oracle Foundation "Without wisdom, power is cruel. Without courage, wisdom is meaningless."_

Ronin let out a low whistle. Rex Gant, huh? That was money. Lots of money. He'd done some stuff for the guy, or his company before, dungeon dives and stuff, but never anything this up close and personal. He hadn't even ever seen the guy before. Everything had always been handled through the Oracle Foundation.

Something was different about this time. He wondered why, what was going on. Then he decided it didn't matter. He'd figure it out on the way.


	4. Making Plans

**Author's Note:** I apologize that this took so long to put up. Real life sort of ate me. I also discovered that the uploading process strips out actual email addresses, which, since I was going somewhere with that, annoys me. But I've fixed it in the previous chapters now, and I know not to do it in the future. Anyway, more setup. The next chapter is where things really start getting interesting. I might go ahead and post that, either later today or tomorrow, to make up for it taking so long to get Chapter 4 up.

This is going to be a long fic, I suspect. Please review, so that the fanfic muse does not leave me halfway through.

As always, I don't claim to own Legend of Zelda or anything in it, that stuff all belongs to the creators. And I don't make any money anyway, so why sue?

* * *

_To: gant  
From: tsage  
Subject: Re: Another Contract_

_Mr. Gant -_

_We are pleased to inform you that our best subcontractor, Ronin, has agreed to take the job. He has done work for you before, most notably recovering the Roc's Feather and locating the remains of the Fire Temple._

_Generally, all arrangements are handled by the Oracle Foundation; however, due to the sensitive and complicated nature of this contract, we request that you meet with Ronin in person to work out the details. We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause, but it will eliminate the risk of miscommunication. We do feel comfortable in assuring you that Ronin is both highly skilled and shows discretion._

_We will be happy to pass along meeting details, if you so desire._

_- The Oracle Foundation  
"Without wisdom, power is cruel. Without courage, wisdom is meaningless."_

Gant frowned at the email thoughtfully. Usually, he did all of his antiquities business through third parties. Sometimes, lines were crossed and laws were broken in the pursuit of the artifacts he collected, and he preferred to remain insulated. That was half the reason why he always contracted through the Oracle Foundation. He could trust them to manage things nicely.

Although this time, they didn't seem to want to manage it. It was irritating in a way, but at the same time, he understood the point. This was not something he wanted muffed just because of a simple miscommunication, and the fewer parties the information had to go through, the smaller the chance it would become garbled. And, he supposed, the Oracle Foundation had their reasons for not wanting to be the go-between this time around. He'd learned that it was wise to follow their advice. Somehow, they always knew more than anyone else.

_To: tsage  
From: gant  
Subject: Re: Re: Another Contract_

_If this contractor has completed jobs for myself and my company satisfactorily in the past, then I see no reason not to meet with him if you think it best. I will be in my office on the 17th until 9 pm. Any time after 6 pm that day will be fine._

_Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. I will have your usual fee deposited in your usual account._

_Rex Gant  
CEO Gamelon Enterprises_

He wasn't exactly worried about meeting a stranger in his office after business hours. He was well capable of handling himself if the man decided to get any bright ideas. If Ronin had done good work for him through the Oracle Foundation before, then there was no reason to think this would be any different, just because they were working face to face. In fact, it might prove profitable in the future. It was always good to have people like this Ronin on reserve in case they were needed, and not just for his personal collections.

He hadn't become the owner and CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world by playing strictly by the book, after all.


	5. Face to Face

**Author's Note:** Ah, here we go, another chapter. I apologize for the delay. Real life and all that jazz. ANYWAY! Things are going to start speeding up now. And we have hints of CONFLICT! Finally! It only took me... five chapters. This leads into the first of one of my major plot points. I wonder how many of you saw it coming and/or where I'm going with this. Enjoy~.

The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please keep her happy and healthy and cranking out tasty treats.

Legend of Zelda doesn't belong to me, I don't own anything in it, and I have no monies. Don't sue, we'll all be much happier.

* * *

Ronin looked around the lobby of the corporate offices of Gamelon Enterprises with an appreciative whistle. It was expensively furnished, so expensively that it didn't have to look expensive. A month's rent for his apartment wouldn't have even paid for one of the lamps. There was almost a feeling of being in the home of royalty. No wonder gigs for this guy always paid so well.

The receptionist was looking at him doubtfully. He didn't really fit in here. He looked, at best, like some college student on break. Worn jeans, a green polo shirt over a white turtleneck, and messy blond hair. He didn't look like a bum or a hippy or anything... but he was a far cry from the business suit executive types that were usually seen here. "Can I help you?" The receptionist clearly thought he had the wrong building.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm here to see Mr. Gant. Name's Ronin." He glanced at his watch. It was nearly seven, and the email had said any time between six and nine. "I was told he would be expecting me." The receptionist raised an eyebrow and just looked at him with a 'yeah, right' expression. He sighed. "I'm supposed to interview him for my economics thesis."

That made a sort of sense to the receptionist; at least, more so than someone like Ronin having any other sort of business with someone like Rex Gant. She the intercom on her desk. "Mr. Gant? There's a Mr. Ronin here to interview you."

There was a pause, and Gant responded. "Of course. I've been expecting him. Send him up, please." The receptionist nodded, and gave Ronin directions. As he headed towards the elevator, Ronin was frowning slightly. There was something about Gant's voice, he decided. Something jarred. He didn't know what, but there was something.

The elevator deposited him on the right floor, and he headed up the hall. It didn't look like there were many other offices on this floor, but there was more of the same expensive good taste as in the lobby. He paused to inspect a painting of a a worn, ancient structure, probably a temple, halfway obscured by a sandstorm in the middle of a vast desert. It was a pretty good painting, but it wasn't the work of a master. He'd have expected an outrageously expensive painting, to go with the expensive hallway. Funny. Looked a lot like... He shook his head. Deserts all looked the same to him.

"Better not keep the big man waiting," he muttered to himself, and went to the end of the hall. As he knocked on the door, he wondered what sort of man Rex Gant was. Besides rich.

The response was immediate. "Come in." Gruff, no nonsense voice, that indicated he was a busy man who didn't have time to play around. Again, Ronin was struck by that faintly jarring note in his voice. Something about Gant's voice made him kind of nervous, and he had no idea why. It was weird.

This was no time to get weird ideas about his employer. Ronin pushed the door open, and went in. Gant was in a swivle chair, facing the window. He snorted. "Interview?"

Ronin shrugged, curiously looking at another painting hanging across the room. He needed to look at that one closer. It was another desert scene. "Well, what else could I say? The emails stressed discretion. The lady at the desk clearly didn't think I belonged here. So I told her it was for my economics thesis."

"Ah. I suppose that is a good deal less obtrusive." Gant snorted again. "Out of curiosity, is there actually a thesis in the works?"

"Oh hell no. I'm not even in school."

"I see." Gant turned his chair and started shuffling through papers on his desk. "Pleasantries aside, I suppose you're wondering about the job..."

As it happened, he glanced up at Ronin at the same time Ronin turned from the painting. There was a full minute, maybe more, of stunned silence as they just... stared at each other. They both had nearly identical expressions of shock, like they'd both seen something that was flat out impossible.

Funny, Ronin thought crazily as he tried to reconcile what he was seeing. Funny how our tastes didn't change that much. Here he was, still wearing green over white, even after all this time, and there he was, still wearing black and red. Granted, now it was a green polo shirt over a white turtleneck and a black suit with a red handkerchief in the pocket, but they still liked the same colors.

The situation was so completely insane that they would have both dismissed what they were seeing as a chance resemblance, if it hadn't been so obvious that they *both* recognized each other. It had been so long since the last time they'd seen each other, but there were just some faces you didn't forget.

They both snapped out of it at the same time. White-blue energy crackled to life in Gant's hand, while Ronin's hand snapped over his shoulder, drawing a previously unseen sword.

They froze like that, ten feet from each other, each watching the other man and waiting for him to make the first move.


	6. Old Enemies

**Author's Note:** Oh, hey, look, an update! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this updated; the unpleasant thing called real life gets in the way. More things happen. There are REVELATIONS! I realize this isn't the way a LoZ game usually goes, but I thought it would be interesting to take a different track. I've got my reasons. Hopefully you'll like where I'm ultimately going with it. I also hope to keep some surprises up my sleeve. *evil grin*

As always, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews. Please feed the muse.

I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in it, I don't make enough money to be worth the effort of suing me, and certainly none off this little labor of love. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

* * *

It must've been five or ten minutes that they were like that, on the verge of killing each other. As the time stretched out and neither attacked, the sense of unreality seemed to grow. Finally, though, Gant broke the silence. "You know, you're supposed to be dead."

Ronin didn't blink. "Funny. I could say the same about you." He was watching Gant warily, expecting this to be a trick.

"And yet here we both are." He didn't take his eyes off Ronin either. "It seems we both had the same idea. Changing our names, taking new identities."

"Kind of had to, after a while." He shifted his weight imperceptibly, going from an offensive to a defensive stance. "So what happens now?"

"Well, we could try to kill each other, I suppose." Gant didn't move for a moment, then lowered his hand, and the crackling energy dissipated. "But two thousand years is a long time to hold old grudges."

Ronin relaxed as well and lowered his sword. "I guess it is." He studied the office. "You've been busy."

Gant shrugged irritably. "Something to do. How is it that you're still alive after two thousand years? You've long since vanished into the mists of legend."

Ronin's mouth quirked into a smile. "Being the Hero of Time seems to have its advantages. What about you? I distinctly remember sealing you away." Then he immediately looked embarassed. "Uh... no hard feelings."

"No hard feelings. It was a long time ago, and now I understand why you did what you did." Gant waved a hand dismissively.

"How'd you get out of that?"

Now it was Gant's turn to smile grimly. "Even the strongest of banishments seems to have a time limit. A thousand years."

Ronin looked away awkwardly. "Sorry. But it was what I had to do."

"I said, it was a long time ago. Don't worry about it." Gant leaned back in his chair and studied Ronin appraisingly. "Ronin? Interesting choice of name."

"It means wandering warrior." Ronin shrugged. "It seemed about right."

"Indeed. You know, this is ironic."

Ronin raised an eyebrow. "What is?"

"We used to be the bitterest of enemies. And now, I'm hiring you."

Well, that was surprising. Ronin blinked. "You mean, the job's still on?"

Gant gave a half-smile. "Of course it is. Now that I know who you are, I know you're more than qualified to get my stone back."

"There is that." Ronin sheathed his sword, looking at Gant thoughtfully. "No offense intended, but question. How do I know that as soon as I get this Stone of Ages back, you won't stab me in the back and try to take over the world again?"

Gant laughed. "None taken. A valid question, considering our history. The truth is, I'm still trying to take over the world. I've just discovered I have far better luck when I use legitimate business means. According to financial reports, I'm one of the ten most influential men in the country." He was quiet for a moment. "Besides. You know what happened the last time I tried to use a magical artifact to conquer. I'm not spending another thousand years in stasis."

"You have a point."


	7. The Thin Man

**Author's Note:** Hoo-ah. Short chapter, but we have a VILLIAN! I might go ahead and post ch 8 too since this one is so short, I shall think on it. I have just begun to realize what an epic thing I have undertaken. I've written several chapters ahead, and... yeah. It takes longer than I thought. But I shall persevere!

I don't own Legend of Zelda nor anything in it (though I have copies of most of the games), and I'm not making any money, so we're cool, yah? No suing. Cool.

* * *

The thin man looked at the stone. So white, so pretty, so powerful. And it was his now. He'd be sure to make good use of it. It had been so hard to find, lost to the mists of history. Ironic, that the Stone of Ages would be forgotten by them. It had taken another one who knew the treasures of the past, one with the money to finance such an undertaking. He didn't know how the collector had found it, all that mattered was that he had. And now the thin man had it.

There was so much that could be done with the white Stone of Ages. He could do what had been denied him so long ago. But he needed more. The Stone was powerful, but there were other resources he needed. And he couldn't count on the collector getting those for him, especially since he would be on guard now.

But there was something the Stone of Ages could be used for now. It could give him the ones from the past, the ones who could get what he needed. With them, he wouldn't have to wait for someone else to find them. The ones from the past would seek them out, and he could focus on making the arrangements. And he only needed one other thing to call them from the mists of time. He needed the book. He needed the book so the Stone would know what to call.

The book would be easy, though. He already knew where it was. He'd known even before the collector had found the Stone of Ages. The book was just an interesting footnote to history, something that scholars excited themselves over but that no one else particularly cared about. The book had no power on its own. But with the Stone...

Ah, then it was so much more.

Getting it would be no trouble at all. Not even half so hard as taking the Stone from the collector had been. There were no magical defense at all guarding the book. The thin man smiled, then tucked the Stone safely away.

He had to pay a visit to the library.


	8. Getting Down to Business

**Author's Note:** And here we are once again. I probably should have uploaded this last week, but I have the attention span of a ferret. I apologize. I'm trying to stay a certain number of chapters ahead of what I've got posted, so at least things shouldn't be too delayed by my easily distractedness. I know that my chapters are fairly short, but in the end, I think the sheer number of them will make up for it.

Anyway. Some basic development between these two. Enjoy.

And, as always, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews, so please feed the muse.

I don't own Legend of Zelda or any characters therein, and I'm not making any money off this. No suing.

* * *

"I hope you don't mind that I'm going to call you Link. I simply can't think of you any other way."

Link nodded. "Fair enough. I actually kept that as my first name. I guess you won't mind me calling you Gannondorf, then."

There was an undefinable look on Gannondorf's face for a moment. "Actually, I'd prefer it. Not, of course, in front of any of my business associates."

Link shrugged. "Yeah, it would kind of confuse everyone if we suddenly started going by different names. So. Getting down to business. What's this Stone of Ages?"

Gannondorf passed a folder to Link. "You might have heard that I collect certain artifacts. Most, if not all, are items of a magical nature, usually powerful. Many date from the age of Hyrule. The Stone of Ages is one of them. It was one of the treasures of the Gerudo." He shrugged. "It turned up after my time."

"Okay... I kind of figured, about the collecting... I mean, I got some of that stuff for you." Link flipped through the file. "Which, by the way, is a really weird thing for me to say."

"It's strange hearing it from you."

Link grinned as he continued looking through the file. "So, yeah. I know what I got for you. I didn't have anything to do with this Stone of Ages. What's it supposed to do?"

Gannondorf shrugged. "It was never used, so there are only legends about its powers. Some say that it was a counterpart to the Ocarina of Time, which, of course, you are familiar with. Some say that it gave whoever possessed it the power to bring the past to life, or even rewrite time itself. All that I know for sure is that the Gerudo thought it too dangerous to ever use."

"Oh, that's always fun. So it's gotta be bad news. What about the thief?" Link handed the file back. "What do you know about them?"

"Only that whoever it was knew the right kind of magic to appear invisible to cameras." Gannondorf cued up the camera feeds showcasing the rolling glitch. "And that whoever it was knew exactly what they were after. That was the only thing disturbed. Considering that, in the way of all major artifacts, it actually doesn't look like all that much and that it was displayed right next to a pile of rupees, that says quite a lot."

Link nodded. "Someone knows what it is, and wants to use it. Not a good sign. What kind of security do you have? Besides guards and alarms. Any traps, spells? You know, old school stuff."

"Enough that you'd have had an interesting time getting to it." Gannondorf considered for a moment. "Actually, I could show you. You're practically the only person in the world that would appreciate the collection properly, anyway."

"Huh? Really?" This was really throwing Link off. He was not used to Gannondorf even being _civil_ to him, much less treating him as a peer. "I'd... I'd like that, I think. Haven't seen much stuff from Hyrule recently. It's gotten... kinda hard to find." He shrugged. "It would be good to look at the security anyway. Did anyone else know about the Stone?"

"Just the Oracle Foundation. I contracted with them to obtain it in the first place."

"And if they were behind it, you never would have got it in the first place." Link nodded. "Maybe they can get a lead on who else might know. They seem to know everything else."

"Ah, I see you noticed that too."


	9. The Metropolitan Library

**Author's Note:** Grah, forgot to add this before I posted the chapter! If you saw the chapter before I fixed it, sorry. Anyway. REVELATIONS! If you've been paying attention, you can probably guess where this is going now. The villian gets some more screentime, as well as a secondary character. I apologize for the delay between chapters. My job has a habit of sapping my will to live, or at least post.

As always, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please feed the muse.

And I didn't own Legend of Zelda or any characters therein last time, nothing's changed. That includes my non-existant bank account, so no suing.

* * *

The city library wasn't exactly known for attracting many people when it was open. And the non-fiction section attracted still less. College students doing research for papers, a few bookworms here and there. Maybe the odd researcher. That sort of thing.

Which was why it was odd and raised some concerns when someone broke in. The library didn't really have all that much in the way of security; it had never been seen as needed. There was no money kept on the premises, and while they had some rare books, the most valuable were on display at the city museum. Even the computers they had for public use were so obsolete as to be practically worthless. It didn't seem like anyone would be *interested* in stealing anything from the library.

Really, it was luck that Shadow had been there at all that late. He was dropping something off before he went home. And he still might have missed the break-in entirely, if he'd spent a few minutes longer in his office. There was a burglar alarm on the front door, but it hadn't worked in months, ever since mice had shorted out the system. And the intruder was remarkably quiet.

But as he was coming out, he'd seen movement in the rare books room. Anyone who had any legitimate reason to be there this late would have turned on the lights. Shadow silently crept into the room, trying to see what was going on.

The intruder certainly didn't look like your average thief. He was tall and ridiculously thin, and moved in a quick, furtive way. Shadow couldn't see his face, as his back was to him, but something about him, his stance or the way he moved set him on edge. But he was more puzzled than anything else; what could the intruder possibly want?

As Shadow stood there, concealed in his namesake, the thin man was running his finger along the spines of a shelf of books. Despite the fact that he glanced at some of the most valuable books the library had, he wasn't interested in those. He'd evidently already checked the other shelves. Once he finished looking at the one he was on, he headed for the back of the room, where the oldest books were. After a certain point, special measures had to be taken to preserve books: even with the best care, the years would degrade the paper and binding and ink. It was easy to end up with a handful of dry rot if you weren't careful.

Each book was in a glass case, where things such as temperature and humidity could be carefully controlled. The intruder glanced at each book for a moment, then lost interest when he saw it wasn't what he was looking for. When he got to the fifth case, he suddenly got excited. He leaned down, pressing his face against the glass to get a better look. That was apparently what he was searching for, because he pulled back and smashed his fist through the glass. He didn't seem to take particular notice of the way it sliced his hand up, just started brushing the fragments off the book. Then he carefully removed it and paged through it.

Shadow had decided this had gone on long enough. Most people would have quietly called the police, but he wasn't most people.

He silently moved to block the only door, flipping his jacket collar up and pulling his loose scarf up to cover the lower half of his face out of habit. Then he put one hand on the concealed blade he always carried. Some said he was paranoid, always having his weapons on him, but some things just never changed.

And he'd seen enough that paranoia was a perfectly reasonable response.

He didn't attack, just stood there, waiting. He very rarely ever made the first move. It was better, he felt, to let the target come to you. Presently, the thief decided that he did, in fact, have what he was looking for, and turned to go.

It was hard to say who was more surprised upon seeing the other. The thief had clearly not expected to be interrupted by anyone, much less someone like Shadow. And Shadow certainly hadn't expected that the thief would be so... conspicuous.

The man's clothes were dirty and ragged, though mostly through personal neglect than lack of money. But that wasn't the strange part. The strange part was that he was wearing a mask. And not something reasonable, like a ski mask. No, this was a heart-shaped full face wooden mask. It looked vaguely tribal, with orange and purple paint surrounding wild yellow eyes. There were spikes projecting from the edges. The whole effect was strangely unsettling, actually.

But Shadow had dealt with unsettling before. "I can't let you take that, you know," he said, his voice dropping into an unidentifiable growl, as always.

The strange mask seemed to shake on the man's face, though of course that had to be from him shaking his head. The intruder gave a strange, echoing titter of a laugh. "You can't stop me. Best get out of the way. Yes."

Shadow didn't budge. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with. Give me the book and leave, and I'll forget the whole thing."

Again with that laugh. "No, no. Won't give it. I need it you see, I need what it has. You'll see soon enough." He tilted his head at Shadow, a little farther than it seemed like he should be able to. "You, you don't know who you're dealing with. Run away, little hero. Before you get hurt."

Shadow didn't bother to say anything, just produced his short blade and held it defensively. It wasn't a katana, quite; it was too short. But it was good for what he used it for. The intruder just laughed again. "So, so, you want to be a big hero, instead of a little hero? You don't know, so often little heroes become little martyrs, not big heroes." With that, he darted forward.

He was faster than Shadow had expected, but Shadow was faster than everyone expected. Long, sharp needles found their way into his free hand, and he flicked them at the thief. He missed, but the way the thief dodged gave him a more favorable position to attack with his blade. He deflected a swipe the thief made at him, and then almost instantaneously swung, connecting with his side. He'd hit with the flat of his blade; he wanted to disable this man, not kill him.

But the other man just shook it off, and bounded away, despite the fact that Shadow had to have broken at least two of his ribs. Shadow flicked more needles at him. Two of them missed, but one caught in the thief's shoulder. He ignored that too. Instead of charging again, he jumped. He used the walls and shelves in the room to rebound off of, propelling himself higher. The man was like a monkey. Fortunately, Shadow could do that too. He ran at the wall, kicking off it to grab the fire suppression system pipes. He used that to swing up, kicking the thief in the chest as he tried to get the drop on him. The thief was knocked across the room, crashing into a bookshelf.

For a brief moment, Shadow wished that they were fighting somewhere else besides the rare books room. She'd forgive him, if he damaged something in this fight, but a lot of these books were irreplaceable. But he didn't have much time to worry about it; the thief had recovered and darted forward again. It looked like he was going for a ground attack again, so Shadow dropped to the floor to do a sweeping kick to knock the man's feet out from under him. It would have worked on nearly anyone else, but the thief's reflexes were good enough that he just jumped over the kick, and came down on Shadow with a knife he'd somehow acquired. Shadow deflected it, and rolled back to his feet.

They'd put about twenty feet between them, after that last clash, and now they stood there for a moment, warily studying each other. Shadow was breathing hard; this other man was so fast that he nearly couldn't keep up, and that was saying a lot. He couldn't tell if the other man was tiring as well, due to the mask. But the thief had apparently decided he couldn't afford to keep going hand-to-hand with Shadow.

"Too much trouble. You're too much trouble, little martyr. Should have just let me go. Should have let me take what I want. Now I have to stop you." Shadow braced for another attack, but he wasn't expecting what happened. The thief made a peculiar wailing sound that was loud enough it hurt his ears.

And then an invisible wave of force exploded from the thief, and hit Shadow like a truck. He was knocked off his feet and back into the wall. Which would have been painful, but recoverable, if he hadn't impacted on a light fixture on the wall. His shoulder was pretty certainly broken, and he'd gotten several deep cuts from the broken glass. The metal part of the fixture itself had done even more damage when he'd dropped to the ground in a heap. It was his dominant hand too, so he couldn't keep fighting. Not as closely matched as they were.

He'd expected that the thief would just leave once he was out of the way, but he was wrong. The man laughed in his weird way, then slowly approached. The painted eyes of the mask seemed to bore into Shadow. "Troublesome. You're going to be troublesome. Should fix that. Like I fixed the other, so long ago. That was funny. Had so much fun, when he couldn't stop me."

Before Shadow could respond, something started happening. It wasn't too different from what happened with a head injury; everything seemed to blur, and the colors started to run together. He could tell that this was magic of some sort, and he wouldn't like it when whatever spell the thief was casting came off.

So he wasn't going to wait around to find out. He couldn't hold his own in a fight against this person with an injured shoulder, but he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He carried everything in his pockets and other concealed locations. Including smoke bombs. He grabbed one, and smashed it in front of him. The smoke billowed up around him, concealing him completely. When it did, he bolted, escaping in the way that only he and those who taught him could. He'd have to let the thief take the book for now.

This wasn't over. But for now, discretion was the better part of valor.


	10. The Hyrule Collection

**Author's Note:** Woohoo, here we go again. I meant to get these chapters up about once a week, but it seems to be happening every two weeks. I apologize. Life leaves me tired. Anyhoo, this scene was one of the ones that popped into my head when I got the idea, and part of the reason I did it. It just amused me. There's also a weird philosophical tangent that I didn't expect to pop up this early, but it works.

Thanks to all those who've reviewed so far, and who've been keeping up with me. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews so... please feed the muse.

As always, I don't own Legend of Zelda or any characters therein. And I'm just as broke as I was last time, so there's really no point in suing.

* * *

Link looked around as the lights came on in what Gannondorf called 'the Antiquities Wing'. It was almost a warehouse, it was so big, with glass cases standing everywhere. Some of it was just mildly interesting. Old armor and weapons, general museum type stuff. What he really paid attention to was the Hyrule Collection.

There was a lot of stuff he recognized, but hadn't seen in a long, long time. There was a Stone of Truth, looking mysterious as always. A fragment of a stone wall with a Triforce engraved on it, and if he wasn't mistaken, it had come from the Water Temple. One of the dancing scarecrows, he forgot their names, was leaning in a corner. It was dormant now, and probably had been for a long time. A replica of one of the Fairy Fountains, or maybe the pillars and pool had actually been moved here.

Link blinked at a large round, yellowish boulder. "Is that a Goron?"

Gannondorf nodded. "It is. One of the few who didn't retreat to the core of the earth when their mountain changed."

"Is it still alive?"

The red-haired man shrugged. "So far as I know. They can live practically forever. They can also sleep practically forever."

"Yeah..." Link thought about trying to wake the creature, but he thought he sort of remembered what their greetings were like, and after the dodongo a week ago, his ribs were still sore. Speaking of dodongos... he examined a skull on display. "Wow, this was a big sucker. I was chasing one around last week, but it wasn't nearly this big. And I'm sure the Metro Transit Authority is glad about that."

Gannondorf raised an eyebrow as he turned on another set of lights. "I thought dodongos, if not extinct, preferred volcanic areas. Or at least, caves deep underground."

"Yeah, well, apparently the north branch subway tunnel will do in a pinch." Link had moved along, staring up at a wall where about twenty or so masks were displayed. "Oh, I remember those." There was a faint quirk of a smile. "What I had to do to get them..."

"Well, I know what I had to do to find them. That ridiculous little salesman assures me that I have all but five." Gannondorf indicated five open spots.

Link grinned. "The salesman, he was what, unreasonably creepy, given to bizarre mood swings, knew entirely too much?"

"You've met him, then."

"A long time ago."

"I see." Gannondorf leaned against the wall, studying the mask collection. "At any rate, he told me three masks are beyond my reach, I of all people shouldn't have anything to do with the fourth, and he's not even sure the fifth exists."

"If he meant what I think he meant, then yeah, that's about right," Link said, nodding. Then he frowned. "You said assures. Like, present tense. The Happy Mask Salesman is still alive too?"

Gannondorf snorted. "For all I know, it's the family business. He showed a good deal of knowledge of Hyrule, but at the same time, he didn't seem to know who I was." He considered for a moment, then added, "Of course, given the way he is, I don't think I'd be at all surprised if he was the original one, still alive after all this time."

"No, I don't think I would be either." There was another wall, this one covered with tattered maps covered with glass. "I see you've got a lot of Tingle's maps. That's someone else it wouldn't surprise me if he's still alive. He was always a weird little... thing."

"Unfortunately, the maps were all found randomly. Bookshops and such. I never met the mapmaker."

Link rolled his eyes. "You might have been better off. I wasn't kidding. He was probably the most bizarre person I've ever met. I never was too sure what he was."

They'd been moving through the collection, Link inspecting and remembering various artifacts. He'd noticed, in a sort of professional way, when the security had increased. More artifacts and display cases had alarm sensors and cameras and things. There were the tell-tale twitches of magic around them, too, and he could tell that there were spells that would trigger if things were disturbed. And knowing who'd put those spells there, they were probably nasty.

But now he was actually looking at the stuff under the most security, and honestly, it kind of freaked him out a little. The Megaton Hammer, the Biggoron's Sword, the Fairy Slingshot, a Hylian Shield, a Deku Shield, the Mirror Shield... tunics and boots... He stared. "Nearly everything in this room is mine. Or was mine."

Gannondorf smirked. "Well, I've made a hobby of collecting magical artifacts of Hyrule. And I only collect the best. And unfortunately, your equipment was always the best of the best. I'd have liked to get my hands on the Master Sword, and the Ocarina of Time, among other things. The collection is incomplete without them."

"You can't have them. I'm still using them." Link was still in shock, a bit. This was just weird.

"So I noticed, back in my office. That sword is unmistakable. I had thought that tomb robbers had beaten me to them. I never thought you were the tomb robber in question."

"Tomb rob- Ah, man, you looted my tomb?! That's just not right!"

"Well, you weren't using it," Gannondorf said reasonably. "It wasn't even a real tomb, since you obviously faked your own death. I fail to see what you're upset about."

Link decided to ignore him in favor of staring at a green tunic. "This is the Kokiri tunic. The one I wore when I was still a kid. Okay, this has officially gone from 'useful if unsettling coincidence' to 'creepy stalker' territory, you know that, right?" He shuddered a little. "What the HELL is wrong with you? You hated me, why are you collecting my stuff?"

Gannondorf didn't answer immediately, and when he did, it wasn't a direct answer. "For a thousand years, I waited, swearing that I would punish all of Hyrule for daring to stand against me. I swore I'd make myself master of the land. And when the seals failed, and I was released... it was into a world I didn't recogonize. Everything had changed. Even the desert was gone." He was quiet. "Hyrule had faded from memory. No one recognized my name anymore, or if they did, it was only in connection to some half-remembered legend. No one even remembered your name, or the princess's. It was like... being lost in the desert, with no landmarks. I had to start all over." He looked around at his collection. "So, when I regained the resources to do it, I started seeking out anything to connect me to the past, to Hyrule. You were my enemy once. But you're still a... well, if you'll excuse the pun, a link to the past. We both remember what Hyrule was, at the height of its glory. And I dare say, we are the only two men in the world who do. These," and here he gestured at the displays, "these aren't some... museum display to us. They meant something once, and still do."

Link stared at him for several moments. Funny enough, he understood what Gannondorf was saying. Things had changed so much. It wasn't so bad for him, he'd lived through all of the change. But to come in halfway down the road... it had to be rough. But he didn't know how to say it, so he changed the subject uncomfortably. "So, yeah... the security for your Stone..."

Gannondorf collected himself, once again becoming the intimidating, stone-faced businessman. He pointed at the shattered case. "In addition to alarms, sensors, and cameras that would rival those on the most valuable paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there were a few spells of my own design. You'd know about what to expect." He pointed at several figures lined up behind the case. "These are tied into all of the wards in this room. If any one object is disturbed..."

Link looked at them. "Stalfos, Armos, Beamos, Iron Knuckle, Redead, Gibdo..." And three of each. He reached out to inspect the Redead. "You weren't playing around."

"And four Floormasters in the corners, and two invisible Wizzrobes. Careful. I wouldn't touch that if I were you. I lost three cleaning crews before people figured that out." There was a faintly amused tone to Gannondorf's voice.

Link pulled his hand back as if he'd been burned. "They're real?!" He retreated to a safe distance. "Man, this is way more overkill than most dungeons. I can't see anyone except maybe you and me being able to take anything out of here without contracting a severe case of death. And even then, it might be tricky. "

"I said you'd have had an interesting time getting to it. But now you see why I needed someone like you to get my Stone back. Someone was able to get past all of this."

"Yeeeah... that's going to make this fun."


	11. First Cast

**Author's Note:** Here we go again. Some more villian action, a little exposition. Since this is such a short chapter and I got two done this week, I'll post the next chapter too. Thanks to everyone who's kept up with me so far and reviewed.

The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please help keep her healthy.

And, as always, the standard disclaimer applies. I don't own these characters, I don't make any profit from this, and I don't have any money.

* * *

The thin man tittered softly as he ran long, thin fingers over the book. Hadn't been quite so easy to get as he'd thought, after all. The man with the scarf meddled. He'd been harder to fight than the thin man had thought. Too powerful, with time-lost skills. He'd have fixed the man with the scarf, like he'd fixed the hero so long ago, only permanently. Except the man with the scarf had slipped away. He'd got away, in a puff of smoke and long forgotten magic.

He'd thought all of that kind were dead. Should have been dead, so long ago. Only one had lived, back at that time, and the thin man thought those skills and that magic would have been lost in the intervening centuries.

No matter. It didn't matter, he had the book. The book was what he'd needed.

But they'd try to stop him. They'd meddle. The man with the scarf, and the collector, and maybe another, though he couldn't say the other actually existed. It was just a feeling, a little tingle of familiar power. He'd have to keep them busy. The ones he would call could do that, but it was best to start small.

He found the pages in the book. Fitting, that these three would be the ones he'd call first. It matched, in a way that he didn't quite understand. It just seemed like it should be that way.

He spoke the words. The Stone glowed with a power that wasn't light, and the pages of the book rattled. The magic twisted around him and through the ages and fastened on those he sought. He didn't know where, but he knew that somewhere in the city, three dark cracks in time split open, each in a different place. Those he sought came through, bucking and scurrying and slithering. This wasn't their place or their time, but they didn't know that. They would hold the cracks open, and other, smaller things would come bucking and scurrying and slithering through. As long as they were in this place and this time, the cracks couldn't heal shut.

And that was all to the better.

He couldn't call more now. The Stone bore a toll, and using it cost effort. He was too weak to call again right now, and the Stone wouldn't glow again until some time had passed. The things that came through the cracks would keep the ones who would meddle occupied, long enough for him to regain his strength and open more dark cracks. Long enough for the ones who sought and the ones who guarded to come through. He'd need them, to find the Memories.

The Stone couldn't reach its full potential without the Memories; they gave it power. Power enough to remake this world into what he wanted, as he'd failed to do so long ago.

He wouldn't fail again. This time, there was no hero to stop him.


	12. Priorities

**Author's Note:** And here's the second chapter I promised. Things start moving for real now; we've actually got into the adventure part, and it only took me twelve chapters. I wonder how many of you have figured out what's about to happen. I also wanted to develop the Gannondorf-Link interaction a little bit more. I had to go back and tweak this chapter a lot, until it finally settled. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but oh well.

Also, I can't help but imagine his cell phone ring as "HEY! LISTEN!"

The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please feed the muse.

I didn't own these games or these characters twenty minutes ago, and I still don't. My financial situation has not changed either, so there's still no point in suing me.

* * *

Link pulled a small notepad out of one of his pockets and started scribbling haphazardly in it. "I'm gonna have to do some research about this. It would take a certain kind of person, with a certain kind of resources to be able to pull this off. There's not many that fit that description, but they can be hard to find."

Gannondorf nodded. "I didn't expect it would be easy. I'd like my stone back as fast as possible, of course, but I don't expect you to work miracles in the investigation phase." He shrugged, and folded his arms. "I don't care how long it takes. I want my stone back, and I want the thief, or the thief's name and location. In fact, that's all you need trouble yourself with. I can make the proper arrangements on my own."

Link didn't look at him. "I'll get your stone back, but that's as far as I go."

"How typical of you."

Link might have said something else then, but was interrupted when a cell phone went off. He fumbled around, eventually finding it in another pocket, and snapped it open. "Ronin." Whoever was on the other end was speaking rapidly. "What? No. Slow down." He listened more. "Hey! I filled that contract! They asked for a dead dodongo, they got a dead dodongo. Believe me. I've got three cracked ribs because I was standing too close when it decided to blow itself up. They do that, you know. When they die." He was becoming increasingly irritated at the caller, and started pacing restlessly. Then, suddenly, he stopped. "What do you mean, a nest?" The caller said something else, but Link cut them off. "No. I'll take care of it. Although I chased that thing from Broad Street Station to the river and back to Point Park, I don't see how I could have missed that." Then he snapped the phone shut. "I hate dodongos," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Gannondorf just raised an eyebrow at him. Link sighed, and shook his head. "It's gonna take me a little while longer to start working on this than I thought. There's apparently fifteen dodongos or more running around the subway. I could swear they weren't there before, but they're there now."

Gannondorf made an annoyed sound. "You've agreed to take this job, I expect you to focus your full attention on it. Regardless of dodongos or anything else."

"I thought you said you didn't care how long it took."

"I don't, but I also expect you to make this your first priority."

Link glared at him. "Forget it. I made a commitment. The situation wasn't as I thought it was, but I still made a commitment. I have to take care of this first."

"You also made a commitment to get my stone back," Gannondorf said, starting to get angry.

"Yeah, well, maybe a couple hundred people being in danger of being eaten and/or set on fire is okay with you, but it's not okay with me, and never will be, and you should know that. We don't even know why they took the Stone of Ages, this is a clear and present danger, and it's my duty to see it through before I worry about the other." Link wasn't going to budge on this, and there was a look in his eyes that reminded you why he was the Hero of Time.

Gannondorf started to say something, but he recognized that look. "Once a hero, always a hero," he spat. "Just get it out of the way quickly and get back to my problem. I am going to be paying you a considerable sum, but not to solve other people's problems."

"Fast as I can." Link shrugged, then glanced at one of the displays. "Lemme borrow the Megaton Hammer."

"What? No! It's priceless!"

"It's ridiculously powerful, and I can clean the dodongos out in a third of the time with it. Besides. It's also mine."

Gannondorf really thought he might become enraged. "You stole it from a temple yourself!"

Link rolled his eyes. "Found it. So I did. But I found it first, and you got it from one of my weapons caches. I have first claim. I have first claim to all of this, because a lot of it really is mine, not something I found. You can have it back for your collection when I've taken care of the subway."

Gannondorf scowled. "And what, pray tell, are you going to tell the people who see you with it? It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"They won't see it if I'm not using it, and I won't be using it until I'm fighting dodongos. No one should be around then anyway," Link said reasonably. "It's a glamour I picked up from the Great Fairies. My weapons are invisible until I draw them with intent to use. How do you think I walk around with my sword all the time?"

"Oh, have it your way," Gannondorf snapped, with bad grace.


	13. Report

**Author's Note:** Oh my god, look, another chapter! I apologize for the delay. My job has been eating my spare time, and electronic distractions ate what little was left. And just to make things better, I was hopelessly stuck on my next chapter for a while, but I've got past it now. Hopefully the next chapter will get posted sooner.**  
**

Anyway. Introduced the last important character. Tying more things together, sorry. Next chapter will have some action, I promise.

Thanks to all those who reviewed and have been keeping up. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews as always. So please review?

And, as always, I don't own Legend of Zelda or anything in it. I'm not making any money off this, and I still don't have any money. Suing me is not productive.

* * *

His sister had been waiting up for him. Shadow wasn't surprised, really. He'd expected that she'd have sensed something was, if not wrong, then not as it should be. They'd always been able to know without being told when one or the other was in trouble. He'd read somewhere that it wasn't an uncommon phenomena among twins.

But he was still annoyed at himself for worrying her. He'd have preferred patching himself as well as he could before she found out about it. She'd still worry, but perhaps less. And he'd be in less trouble.

She was pacing the living room of their shared apartment, biting her thumbnail. "Sh-Shadow! What happened?" Irrelevantly, he wondered why stress always seemed to make her stumble over his name. She rushed to help him to the sofa. "Goddesses, you look like... well, you don't look good." Once he was settled, she made for the kitchen.

"I lost a fight," he muttered, with his characteristic understatement.

She looked up from the cabinet she was searching. "Lost a- Oh, you weren't out playing the vigilante again, were you? I know you want to help, but that's dangerous in more ways than one."

He shook his head. "No... Not this time." Shadow had, in fact, still been playing the vigilante on occasion, but she didn't need to know that. He hissed slightly as he started trying to pull his jacket off. The lighting fixture had done a lot of damage; the jacket was ruined. That was irksome. He could afford a new one, but he'd liked it. Briefly, in very few words, he explained the burglary he'd walked into at the library.

She'd found what she was looking for. He could hear glass clinking, and presently she held out a small bottle. He scowled at the faint bitter, mediciny smell. He hated that stuff. But it would do no good to argue, it was best to just get it over with. He downed the red liquid in one shuddering gulp.

"The rare books collection?" She frowned, puzzled, as she sat down next to him. "I can imagine that someone might think they were valuable... of course, it's the historical significance that's really important." She shook her head, automatically helping Shadow remove his torn shirt and examining the wound. "Though anyone who knows anything at all about rare books would know that the ones worth any significant amount of money are all at the museum, or in the Gant collection." She shook her head. "This is going to hurt... I'm afraid you've still got glass in your shoulder."

"The thief knew what he was looking for. I'm sure about that." There was a sharp intake of breath as she pulled the shards out, but he said nothing. "He must've looked at nearly everything in the room. It was the only thing that interested him."

"Well, tomorrow I'll see what was taken. I can't imagine you had time to check. And what might explain why." Satisfied that she'd removed all the glass, she started cleaning off the blood. "We don't have any more of the red, and you used up the last of the blue a year ago."

He grunted. "I'm fine."

"You are not. You know perfectly well that one little bottle wasn't enough. I'm not strong enough to properly set your shoulder, and there's a lot of damage here. You're still bleeding, for Goddesses' sake. I'll bandage you up for now, but you'll have to go see her tomorrow."

He gave his sister a pleading glance. "I'll live. You know what she's like. She's nice enough, in her own way, but you know I can't stand her."

She fixed him with a stern look. "You will just have to put up with her for a quarter hour. I can't get any more of anything for who knows how long. And you know what happened the last time you decided to just leave it and bear it."

He huffed in irritation. "I survived that."

"Barely."


	14. Lizard Problem

**Author's Note:** Hoo-ah. A new chapter, and in reasonable time, even! COMBAT! We finally get to the first dungeon, and it only took fourteen chapters! ... Dear god this fic will be long. It is now officially the longest fic I've done, both in chapters and wordcount. And I have more chapters written that I haven't posted. |D Anyway. I'm trying to keep to the spirit of Zelda games, although since the characters are basically 'endgame' versions, they're quite a bit more... badass... than they would be in the equivalent stage of the game.

As always, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews, so please review? Thanks to all those who've reviewed previous chapters and who've been keeping up with me. Hopefully, I won't disappoint.

And as usual, I don't own Legend of Zelda or any characters in it. And since I'm not making any money off this, I don't have any money to be sued for.

* * *

Link slammed out of the office, fuming slightly. Gannondorf hadn't changed all that much; he still had a callous disregard for life. Perhaps, he thought cynically, that was why he'd been so ridiculously successful. But he'd have to put up with the man for now. As he rode the elevator down to the ground floor, he reflected that at least this way, he could keep an eye on things and be ready if something happened.

Though, in a way, it would be nice if Gannondorf had decided to give up evil. It sounded like he had. He doubted that they could ever be friends, really. Not after the things that had happened between them, no matter how long ago it had been. But not being enemies would be nice.

At any rate, he had more important things to worry about right now. Like that nest of dodongos in the subway. He still had no idea how he'd missed them the first time he'd been down there. Dodongos weren't exactly inconspicuous. Link grinned at the comforting weight of the Megaton Hammer strapped across his back. It was always good for killing dodongos. It was good to have it back, even if it was temporary. He didn't mind Gannondorf keeping it, really. Although the fact that he wanted to still weirded Link out.

It didn't take him long to get back into the subway. Fortunately, from what he'd heard, the dodongos were keeping more to the north part of the city. There were less people in that area, which meant less chance for some innocent bystander to get hurt. And hopefully, he could take care of this quickly and then look into this Stone of Ages business. Something about that bothered him, but he hadn't figured out quite what yet. Unless it was just the circumstances.

Further musing on that subject was put on hold. He'd found the access tunnel where the dodongos had been most recently. It was blocked off with caution tape and a nervous looking security guard was stationed there, periodically glancing behind him. "I'm sorry, sir, this area's closed."

Link produced his ID from his pocket. "Link Ronin. I'm a private investigator and... troubleshooter. The Metro Transit Authority hired me. I hear you've got a lizard problem?"

The guard didn't seem to know if he wanted to look relieved or incredulous. "Y-yeah. Something like that. I've never seen any thing like these things, they eat everything! And they breathe-"

"Yeah, they breathe fire. I know. I've dealt with them before." Link didn't want to be rude, but he'd made the mistake of letting people ramble incoherently about whatever monster he was there to take care of, and it was nearly impossible to get them to shut up and let him get on with it, once they got started. He was in time; he managed to cut the guard off before he got started. "I'm going to take care of them. You just stay put and keep people out. "

Frankly, the guard looked like the mere idea of him going anywhere near the dodongos was beyond absurd. In fact, he looked like he was thinking about suggesting that Link was quite mad for going down that tunnel.

Once he was assured that no one was going to follow him into the access tunnel, Link continued on. It didn't take him long to start seeing the tell-tale signs of dodongos: scorched walls and claw marks. There was also a smell that was impossible to describe but was definitively dodongo. And now he knew there was something odd about this whole thing; he'd been through this tunnel before, when he was chasing the first one. And the last time, which had only been a week ago, there hadn't been any signs of dodongos in this tunnel.

Whatever. They were here now. He'd clear them out, then worry about where they'd come from. And unless he was mistaken, that peculiar growly-huffy sound could only be a dodongo...

It was. Not big, as the things went, but there it was. He dodged a burst of flame. Fortunately, these things were always slow. He dove to the side, pulling the Megaton Hammer out as he did. The Master Sword was good, and he relied on it, but the Hammer had always been the go-to weapon to drop a lot of damage at once. He couldn't swing it as fast, but he was still faster than the dodongos. And, about like he'd expected, a single hit was enough to finish it off. He delivered the blow, then dove out of the way before it detonated. He had the range now; he wouldn't get caught in that again.

He made his way through the subway tunnels, taking out the dodongos as he found them. It was really just a thankless exterimination job. They weren't really much of a threat to him. They were just a bit tricky. Frankly, he was sort of astonished at how quickly they'd infested the place. That was really the only word for it. They'd just... appeared, out of thin air almost.

It was getting hot down here, though he hadn't really paid attention to it. He was too preoccupied with the matter at hand. But, of course, he couldn't keep track of everything at once. Especially when there were things in the area he wasn't expecting.

A blast of blue light erupted from a corner he hadn't looked at. "WOAH!" He ducked out of pure reflex, and it was really a good thing he did. Fragments exploded out of the tunnel wall. It was times like this that he really missed Navi and Tatl. But when the Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods had started to fade away, the fairies had retreated with them.

Link spun, hammer at the ready, only to stop and stare for a few seconds. He wanted to know how the HECK a functioning Beamos had ended up in the subway access tunnels, without anyone knowing about it. But he didn't really have time to worry too much about it. He rolled out of the way of another beam. He could take it out, but he really wanted to conserve his limited explosives. At least until he was sure of what he was dealing with. Stationary Beamoses weren't much threat, as long as you stayed away from them.

Another beam cut across the floor, and he dodged out of the way with the ease of long practice. These things packed a wallop, but it was way easier to dodge them than other things that had tried to kill him a lot more recently. He was still planning to just go around it, but the shot he'd just ducked knocked a hole through a thinner section of the tunnel. A searing wave of heat poured out.

There was no way anything down here should be that hot. Link risked a look through the hole, still mindful of the Beamos. If he had any specific ideas, it was that the dodongos had started a fire that would need to be dealt with.

His jaw dropped in disbelief. "No_ way_."


	15. Annoyances

**Author's Note:** Ah, I'm sorry it took me so long to get this posted. You know how it gets when real life eats you. I got stuck on a later chapter, and wanted to figure out where I was going with it before I continued, and then I forgot to upload my backlog of chapters, so... yeah. I'll try to get following chapters posted pretty soon. I think I've got about a fourth to a third of the fic itself written. It's going to be an absolute monster. But I promise it's not dead!

Thanks to the people who've read this beast and reviewed. I'm trying to not be a flake. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, so please feed the muse.

As always, I don't own Legend of Zelda or the associated characters. They all belong to the awesometastic people who created them. I'm not making any money of this and haven't got any money, so please no suing.

* * *

Since there was evidently nothing more to be discussed with the idealistic fool, and he'd already finished all the work he'd stayed to do, Gannondorf thought it time to go home. He was really quite annoyed with Link, though he wasn't sure why he should have expected anything else. After all, the boy wouldn't have ever become his greatest adversary if he hadn't been a hero through and through. In any case, he was annoyed, and when he was annoyed, it was always best for him to go home and brood in private. He sometimes made rash decisions in this state, which could cost him money.

It was odd, and a bit unsettling in a way, that the naive Hylian was still around. Though really, why should it be surprising? Gannondorf was still around, after all. There was a certain... symmetry in Link being around too. Oh, the boy would doubtless end up irritating him a great deal. They were too dissimilar for that not to happen. But in a way... he was glad. He'd meant what he'd said, before, about wanting links to Hyrule. Even if they could be infuriating.

It could only be hoped that the noble young idiot would deal with those... dodongos quickly, so that he could get back to the business of his Stone. It was funny, in a way, dodongos suddenly infesting the subway. Not that he particularly cared. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing but a nuisance and a delay. He never took the subway.

He was still fuming a bit. Really, it was enough to make him want to initiate hostile takeover proceedings with another company. Actually... that wasn't a half bad idea. He'd need to do some research on it when he got home. At least he'd stopped thinking of 'hostile takeovers' as involving armed troops and all the not-inconsiderable magics he had at his disposal. Mostly.

The prospect of some good old-fashioned corporate mayhem made him feel slightly less like shaking Link until his head fell off. He supposed that was for the best, really. So he was at least in a more tolerable mood, when he pulled into the underground parking garage of his building.

He was so absorbed in contemplating which company to take over that his first indication something was amiss was when something snapped at his ankle. The garage was dim, and initially, Gannondorf thought it was some animal. A dog, perhaps. One of those ratty little things. He was not amused. He kicked at it viciously. That was when he realized it was something else, because it didn't have the right mass to be a dog, even a ratty one. There was a round, hard part; presumably the things head. At least, that's what snapped at him again with a hollow clattering sound. But it was far too light. And the hard shell was connected to a long, thin... what was that, a vine?

He didn't think about it too much. He didn't care to have his expensive suit ruined by anything, dog or plant or whatever the hell this was. And anything snapping at him didn't amuse him. He put his foot on the vine right behind the hard bulb, holding it still. Then he jerked it to the side, hard enough that the vine snapped with a really unpleasant noise. Mildly curious, he inspected the thing.

It took him a few moments to place it. He'd never been one for forests; they were a bit unnerving to a Gerudo who'd grown up in the desert. These things were called deku... scrubs? No, those were the bushes, the ones that spat nuts at everything. These things were deku babas, that was it. The predatory plants. He didn't think they'd ever really been a threat to anyone except the most careless Kokiri and fairies. Annoyances, really.

He was puzzled by its presence. Deku babas had only ever grown in the forest places, and perhaps some of the abandoned temples. And they hadn't been seen since the days of Hyrule. So that begged the question, what was one doing in his parking garage? He frowned at the remains. It was a small thing, but odd.

It didn't matter.

He dismissed it, and continued to the elevator. He'd ask someone about it later, Link, perhaps. If he was in a more reasonable mood and not distracted by his stupid conscience. He pushed the button for the penthouse. It catered to his desire to look down on the masses from on high. His thoughts turned from the odd appearance of the plant to business matters. Perhaps that ranching concern would be fun to take over...

The elevator suddenly halted with a grinding shudder that threw him against the wall. The light flickered then died.

The elevator had never stuck like this before. Gannondorf wasn't really worried, but it was troublesome. He could manage on his own, but there was a reason the elevator existed, and that reason was to take him to the top floor.

He waited a few minutes in the darkened elevator, before fumbling for the emergency button. Naturally it didn't do anything. He snarled a bit in frustration. Then he rolled his eyes and reached for the door. It took a bit of prying to get his fingers between them, but once he did, he was easily strong enough to force them apart. The elevator had stuck halfway below one of the floors. It was a bit of a squeeze for him, due to his bulk, but he got out without too much trouble.

He was on the tenth floor. The penthouse was another fourteen up. Fourteen flights of stairs weren't all that much, but something was bothering him. He stood in the hall, just listening. The power seemed to have failed all over the building, because the corridor was lit only by the emergency exit signs that pointed to the stairwell. It wasn't that late... only eight-thirty or nine, but no one seemed to be around. That wasn't what stopped him.

Something was wrong. It had been a long time since something spoke to his warrior's instincts. He'd done a good deal of soldiering and mercenary work, in the days before he'd made enough money to do as he'd pleased. That had all been such a long time ago, but he didn't forget things like that. In any case, he knew something was wrong. It was either the odd half-dark of the powerless building, or the unusual quiet or maybe even a faint tremor of magic that shouldn't be there.

Whatever it was, it was enough. He could have just gone upstairs, but he was in a mood. Hostile takeovers were good to work out his frustrations, but nothing beat the pure cathartic potential of causing mayhem. And it wasn't like he wanted something unpleasant loose in his building. He might not exactly care if whatever was here was dangerous to other people, but Gannondorf was a violently territorial man. And this was his territory.


	16. Hail to the King

**Author's Note:** And here I am, back again. I said I'd try to get the next chapter up pretty quickly. Stuff happens!~ I'm trying to write a new chapter before I post the next one, so hopefully I'll actually manage to get this fic finished. I've actually got quite a backlog, but I'm too nervous to go ahead and post the written chapters. Anyway, first dungeon, here we go. Hopefully it's worth the wait.

The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, so please help keep her healthy.

As always, I do not own Legend of Zelda, the associated characters, or the wicked cool arsenal. I'm not making any money off this and I haven't got anything to be sued for, so... no suing please?

* * *

Dodongos were odd creatures. They had been compared to dinosaurs, but they were unrelated. Or perhaps, it was more accurate to say that they were what dinosaurs would have been, with a streak of fey in them. They were an old, old species, one that didn't always follow the same rules everything else did. Most things, for instance, reached the maximum adult size and stopped growing. Dodongos didn't. They just kept getting bigger, and you could always tell how old a dodongo was by its comparative size.

Mostly, they never got beyond about fifteen feet long; competition for food got pretty stiff when they got too big, and they had been known to be territorial. Sometimes they got as big as twenty feet long, in an area rich with prey and with only a few dodongos.

As far as anyone knew, only one had ever acheived the mind-breaking size of eighty feet long and thirty feet tall, and weighing in at approximately forty seven tons. And that one had been undisturbed in the deepest depths of a volcanic mountain possibly since time began.

Which really made what Link was looking at a sheer impossibility.

For a few moments, all he could do was stare in befuddled amazement at what could have very well been another King Dodongo. There was no way such a creature could have reached that size in the subway tunnels. The tunnels hadn't been here long enough, and anyway, SOMEONE would have found out about it by now. Dodongos were not exactly subtle. And there was also the small matter of what appeared to be a magma pool eating away at the concrete floor. That had to be new.

Link noticed some smaller things, just as a matter of course, like what looked like a black... something, hovering over the magma pool. He couldn't quite decide if it was a floating blob, or an absence of a floating blob of space. That was secondary to the fact that there was a FREAKING KING DODONGO to deal with.

First things first, he had to find a way to get down there. He ducked back around the corner, giving the Beamos a dodge. There should be an access tunnel down to the next level... There it was. He started making his way down, wondering what the hell was going on. He wasn't so distracted, though, that he didn't see the small bluish black shape fling itself at him. Fortunately, the lights were still working... albeit sporadically.

He ducked the flying annoyance. What was that, a bat? No, it was... a keese? There was a damn keese down here? Those had always driven him nuts. Little flying rats... Almost as bad as boes. They had stuck around far longer than was neccessary. Fortunately, he'd gotten pretty good at taking them out. His slingshot and his bow had served him well, and he still used the bow on occasion. But there was something to be said about technological advances, and there was no reason to waste an arrow, even a plain one, on something as small as a keese. That's what he had a gun for. He shifted the Megaton Hammer to his off hand, and dealt with the flapping menace with little interuption.

Keese had never been more than a brief delay. And the occasional bad bite.

It didn't look like there was much else in the tunnel to worry about. He'd taken a quick look at the subway maps, and he thought the tunnel he was in would curve around to the big open space the King Dodongo was in. He still moved cautiously, though he was eager to get down and take the giant monstrosity out.

The temperature skyrocketed as he went along the passage. although it was an odd jump, like he'd crossed into a really hot room. It was uncomfortable, but nothing he couldn't deal with. If it got much hotter, he'd have to retreat until he could come back with his red tunic. But so far, it was still tolerable.

He reached the big room without further incident, and paused at the edge of it, to study the King Dodongo and the layout of the room. The pool of molten rock in the middle would make things a little interesting, but the corners of the room would be to his advantage. The thing was too big to really get into them... although of course, it could still breathe fire.

Something was happening. He was distracted from his strategizing by the black... well, call it a rip. That was more or less what it looked like. It pulsed and grew a bit bigger. It really was a weird looking thing. Sort of hypnotizing and nauseating at the same time. The more he looked at it, the more it fascinated him, and the less he liked it. He didn't know what it was, but it kind of screamed 'not good.' Something would have to be done about that, clearly.

As he watched, the rip flexed, and there was a scrabbling sound. A reptilian snout emerged, followed by a lithe, armored body. It was too small to be a dodongo, but it was still pretty wicked looking. It didn't take him near as long to remember the name as he thought it might. Lizfalos. The lizard soldiers. Link frowned as it squirmed through, then scurried off through another access tunnel. Okay, so the rip thing was a portal of sorts. That explained the sudden presence of things that ought to not be here, he supposed. But what was causing it...

He'd figure it out later. The very first order of business was taking out the King Dodongo before it got out of hand. Then he could consult the Oracle Foundation about the rip, and figure out a way to close it. And probably hunt down everything that had got through. He sighed. "Why does it always turn out complicated?"

At least step one wouldn't be hard. Dangerous, yes, but not hard. He'd fought a King Dodongo before, and though that had been two thousand years ago, it was a very vivid memory, and the knowledge came back easily. Explosives disagreed with dodongos. He supposed he could have bludgeoned it out of existance with the Megaton Hammer, but that would probably be far too much work, and far too dangerous. And he'd promised he'd take care of this as fast as possible.

The bombs the Gorons had made had been quite good for the time, but time had marched on, and destructive technology with it. Eventually, some other loony who was fond of explosions had come up with a better alternative: the hand grenade. They were a bit more reliable than the Goron product, and had a more controllable fuse. Which was for the best, really, considering that no Goron bombs had been seen since the race faded into history, and the Bomb Flower was extinct.

It was a simple matter to get the thing's attention; he just had to go into the room and wave his arms. Then, as he'd rather thought it would, it had lurched after him. Its sheer bulk meant that it didn't move too fast at first, but it picked up speed until he was having to run to stay ahead of it. Now it was just a matter of timing.

It opened its mouth to inhale in preparation for a blast of fire, and he took the opportunity to pop a grenade into the yawning cavity. The King Dodongo didn't really notice, but a few seconds later, the grenade went off. It worked like a charm. There was a muffled thump of an explosion, and the dodongo roared in baffled rage and pain. Link felt a little bad, having to kill the thing in this way, but it couldn't be allowed to stay down here.

He nearly forgot he had to dive out of the way as it curled into a ball and rolled around in its rage. He got into a corner, and put his shield up in front of him to protect himself from any bits of ceiling or rock that the assault kicked up. Fortunately, the little temper tantrum didn't last long, partly because the King Dodongo was not exactly bright. It wobbled into a wall and toppled over, bellowing.

It took it a minute or two to reorient itself, and find him again. Once it did, it lumbered thunderously after him, and the last five minutes repeated themselves.

The grenades were a bit more powerful than he remembered the Goron bombs being. The second grenade was enough to finish it off. The great wounded beast didn't even get the chance to curl into a ball again. It simply reared back, then fell over, sending a tremor through the whole subway.

And then the strangest thing happened. Dodongos usually detonated on death. Link couldn't quite remember if the King Dodongo had, when he'd fought it as a child. But in any case, he was sure it didn't do what it did now. The body, after coming to a rest, started to glow. It was dim at first, but increased until it was bright white. He almost had to look away. Then it sort of... dissolved, little specks of white light breaking away and swirling into the black rip. In turn, the rip grew smaller and smaller, until the last speck of the dodongo entered it. Then it fell in on itself with a nervous little pop and a flash of white.

A moment later, a soft white ring burst from where the rip had been, rapidly expanding through the subway. Link would have dodged, except it was too unexpected and too fast. However, it didn't seem to actually do anything.

He noticed, with a sort of vague interest, that the pool of magma had suddenly cooled to a dull black, and the temperature had dropped to a comfortable level. Mostly, his attention was focused on the small red crystal hanging in the air where the rip had been.

He hesitated for a moment; things like that could be dangerous. But at the same time, it wouldn't be the first time he'd seen something like this happen, and things that appeared like this usually proved to be important. So he didn't hesitate all that long before he reached out and took it. The crystal was warm in his hand, and felt a bit like magic, which he supposed was only to be expected. But there was nothing else he could tell about it right now; all he could do was tuck it safely away into his pocket.

Bewildered, he turned to find his way out. At least the rip had been closed, when he'd defeated the King Dodongo. He'd probably still have to clear out everything that had got through, and wouldn't that be fun.

Except that seemed like it was taken care of too. There were piles of reddish dust here and there, near fresh scorch marks that spoke of dodongos. He examined the tunnel the Lizfalos had gone into, but all he found there was a small pile of badly corroded armor and what could have been a sword. When he returned to the corner where the Beamos had been, all that was left there was a jumbled heap of rust and a few barely-identifiable metal plates in various stages of corrosion.

He checked thoroughly, but there was nothing in the subways that ought not be there. The only signs of life he saw were a few rats and insects. He puzzled it out as he searched. If the rip had sealed itself when the King Dodongo had died, then perhaps that white light that had shot out had made everything else fade away too? He sort of hoped that was the case; it would make things much less complicated.

But he would definitely have to get a second opinon about all this weirdness.


	17. On the Hunt

**Author's Note:** AHAHAHAHAH! *collapse* So, yeah, I've been neglecting this for too long. Sorry about that. I'll try to be better, but at least it's not dead? Anyway, this story is going to do something a little different, in that Link won't be the only one stomping on the baddies. Why should he be, when there are others who can do that too~? I'm thinking about adding more chapters soon, to make up for neglecting this for so long.

Anyway, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews. Please feed the muse.

And, as always, I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in it, and I'm not making any money off this. And I haven't got any money anyway.

* * *

There had been nothing amiss on the tenth floor, beyond the general feeling of something not right. Since the elevator was still stubbornly not working, Gannondorf had two options when he got to the stairwell. He could either go down, or he could go up. He picked down, just because that would involve less backtracking, if he ended up having to clear the whole building.

He'd decided to check, floor by floor, until he found whatever was perturbing him. There was nothing on the next floor down, but when he reached the eighth floor, things started getting interesting. He almost walked into one of those bushes, the deku scrubs. A hard round deku nut slammed into his side and dropped to the floor. It would leave a bruise, but he'd been hit harder than that before. He looked down at the nut, then at the bush, which was smirking insolently at him.

Well, as much as a bush could smirk insolently.

Gannondorf raised an eyebrow, then decided that the little creature had to be taught a lesson. Such temerity could not be permitted. He picked up the nut, and considered it for a moment. Then he hurled it back at the scrub as hard as he could. Deku nuts detonated with a huge flash when they were hit hard enough, and in this case, the nut hadn't hit Gannondorf hard enough to explode. The same could not be said when he threw it back. The nut exploded, and the deku scrub squeaked, spun around, and plopped to the carpeted hallway. "Tch." Gannondorf continued down the hall, the scrub ceasing to have any meaning to him. There was another one near the end of the hall, and it was dealt with in the same way. Then he continued down the stairs.

He had to pause on the landing. The lights were still out, but he wasn't bothered by the dark. Anyway, there were emergency lights that ran on batteries. But there was a queer skittering noise in the corner that made him hesitate. It sounded like an insect, almost. He let his gaze drift down from the ceiling down to the floor. He saw the biggest spider he'd ever seen just as it charged at him. He was still as agile as he'd ever been. Which was quite surprisingly so, for a man of his size. He was able to dodge the thing, just barely.

He had a few bits of skulltulla in his collection; mostly, the gold shells that a few of them had. They lasted longer. Really, this thing didn't really look like the peices he had, but it was so ugly it could be nothing else. And he didn't really care to see what else it might do. So he just stomped it until it was indistinguishable from the carpet. Then he grimaced at his shoe. It was an expensive pair. He wiped the remains of the skulltulla off on the carpet distastefully, then continued on to the next floor.

There was another sort of skittering on the other side of the door into the hallway. Since he didn't really want to get more skulltulla on his shoes, he took a cautious step back, then opened the door, his hand crackling with magic.

The good news was that it wasn't another skulltulla. The bad news was that it was one of its big brothers, the giant ones. He'd heard about them, but never seen one.

It wasn't an improvement. It was even uglier than the small one.

It also wasn't enough to stop him. He rolled his eyes, then just punched through the bone white shell. From what he'd read, the unprotected underbelly was the best place to hit it, but he just didn't feel like playing around. The shell splintered under his fist, both due to his sheer strength and the magic he'd prepared to throw. And that took care of that problem.

Most of the rest of the floors were much the same, though Gannondorf was frankly puzzled by the sudden presence of creatures he'd thought had vanished long ago. It didn't make any sense. Somehow, it was as if a door to old Hyrule had been opened. Being puzzled annoyed him. Granted, he was annoyed by several other things; like the fact that they'd chosen his apartment building to infest in sudden and untold numbers, and the fact that his suit would never be the same, and the fact that none of these annoyances was a properly challenging target to vent his growing rage on.

Something ran across the hallway, too quickly to be anything he'd seen so far. His mind was recalled to matters at hand, and he went in the same direction the creature had. There was a small lobby-type area on this floor, with two vending machines. Improbably, one of them was still lit up, and it illuminated the lobby. The thing skittered up the wall to the ceiling.

It wasn't something he'd ever actually seen before, though it had the same sort of feel as all the other Hylian creatures he'd been killing. It looked something like one of those jumpy skittery things that had inhabited practically all parts of Hyrule, the tekites, only much smaller and deformed. The whole effect was really quite unpleasant. Gannondorf was still trying to decide what it was when it leapt at his face. He caught it, two inches from him, and held it for a moment while it snapped futilely at him and flailed an inordinate amount of legs.

It was too big to step on, and why waste magic on something he'd already caught? There was a window overlooking the street, and after a moment's consideration, Gannondorf flung the thing as hard as he could through it. He did not bother to open it first. The little monstrosity slammed through it with a satisfying crash, then made a nasty splat on the street, five stories below. "I do hope they hose off the sidewalk in the morning," he muttered.

The feeling of magic got stronger as he went further down, so he supposed he'd picked the right way. There were more monsters, but he dealt with them in short order. The most troublesome were those little deformed skittery things. Everything else mostly stayed put, but those were hard to catch. Eventually, though, he found himself in the parking garage, having destroyed everything between him and what he presumed was the source of all this nonsense.

There was a definite feeling of something being here, something that ought to not be. But the lights were out here too, and he couldn't see anything. Just a dim red emergency light near the center.

He took a few steps forward, and the red emergency light moved. There was a loud and expensive sounding crunch and a noise that was one part shrieking metal and one part hostile cry. Glowing magic crackled over his hand again, and he held it up to see what he was dealing with.

What he'd taken for an emergency light was the luminous eye of the biggest spider he'd ever seen. It was easily taller than he was, close to the size of a small house. Although spider wasn't quite the right word. It was definitely spider-like, but now that he got a second look, it seemed to be closer kin to those small skittery things. The crunch had been it dropping from the ceiling onto his car. The car, of course, was a total loss.

He ground his teeth. "You shouldn't have done that," he growled. If he'd bothered to go up to his penthouse to get a weapon, he'd have waded directly into melee combat with the creature. But seeing as how he hadn't, the best course of action seemed to be pelting it with bolts of magic. He might have been spoiling for a fight, but he wasn't stupid.

The creature was far more resilient than anything he'd fought so far. Throwing one bolt just seemed to make it angry, and he was forced to duck around a support pillar as it came after him. He charged another and threw it, but the thing chose that particular moment to scramble up another pillar to the ceiling, which seemed far higher than it should have. The bolt went wide, discharging uselessly against the cement wall.

Well, not quite uselessly. In the glow, he'd briefly been able to see something shimmering in and out of view in the middle of the garage, but the glimpse was so small that he couldn't tell what it was.

He was distracted by three wet clunks near where he was standing. The spider creature had dropped three disgusting looking balls, nearly on top of him. And almost as soon as they hit, they split open to reveal more of those little skitterers, which charged at him.

So that's what those things were. This creature's spawn. Gannondorf discovered he didn't particularly care; he just charged up a single bolt to the extent that it was able to take all three out as they converged on him. Fortunately, they exploded away from him, splattering their insides in the opposite direction.

He was getting tired of this. He didn't know if the creature was going to come down or not, or if it was going to lay more eggs, and he didn't care. He charged another magic bolt, and took careful aim at the dim red eye. It made for a wonderful target.

That seemed to do it; the creature let out a painful death cry and fell. It landed on his car again, and its bulk flattened it even further. He sighed. "Naturally."

The corpse lay there for a moment, then started to glow white. Gannondorf just watched it with a raised eyebrow as it reached the peak of intensity. The glow was enough that he could see what the garage looked like now. A few other cars were damaged, though his was the only one that was utterly destroyed. And now he could see that shimmering, flexing thing, though the better light did little to show what it actually was. A tear, of some sort, was the best comparison he could come up with. But even that wasn't destined to be there long.

The spider started to dissolve, and as it did, the tear shrank until it shrank itself out of existence. Then, though Gannondorf didn't know it, the same thing happened that had happened across town, at nearly the same time. A white ring of light shot outward, and a moment later, the power came back on. The only thing left to show anything at all had happened, besides the damaged cars, was a green crystal, hovering in the middle of the garage. Gannondorf took it, and when nothing else happened, tossed it up and down thoughtfully.

"Now that was... interesting."


	18. Police Report

**Author's Note:** Oh, look, another chapter! I'm actually making pretty good progress with this so far. Since this is such a short chapter without a lot going on, I may go ahead and post the next one tomorrow.

The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please feed the muse.

Legend of Zelda does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters. So please don't sue for my nonexistant monies.

* * *

The library was a bit of a mess. The opening librarian had come in to discover the front door lock had been forced and that the rare books room was a shambles. The librarian had called the police and was now fluttering around like a confused bird, twittering anxiously.

That was the scene that Tetra Sage found when she came into work that morning. The opening librarian homed in on her. "Oh! Miss Sage! The most awful thing... the rare books... and there's a good deal of damage...!" she said, a bit incoherently.

"Shh. It's all right. Don't fuss," the head librarian said soothingly. "The police will take care of it, I'm sure. Now, what's happened?"

The other librarian wrung her hands tearfully. "Oh, it's terrible! It must've been some terrible vandal, there's so many things broken!"

She nodded. Well, she'd expected that, after what her brother had told her. "Most of it can probably be put right. Were any of the books damaged?"

"No, I don't think so... oh, but they took one! One of the older ones was stolen! The case was smashed, and I couldn't find it anywhere!"

She nodded and patted the other woman's shoulder. "All right. I'll check the inventory." She considered for a moment. "Look, you've had a bit of a shock. If the police are finished talking to you, why don't you go home and have some nice strong tea? I can manage here," she offered kindly. The police would probably find her more useful anyway, seeing as how she'd know more about what was taken.

"If you're sure, Miss Sage..." After a few more reassurances, she managed to get the woman off, still incoherent.

She went and found the officers who were still poking around, investigating. "Ah, hello. I'm Tetra Sage, one of the head librarians. If there's any way I can help you, please ask."

The officer looked relieved to deal with someone with sense, after the other librarian had been twittering at him for a good half hour. "Yes, ma'am. I don't know how much you've been told, but the other lady reported a burglary?"

She nodded. "Yes. I sent her home, I hope you don't mind."

He didn't. "The unknown appears to have forced the front door."

"Yes, I suppose that would be the easiest place. It's not a very good lock, you see. The whole building is old, and we've never had occasion to replace the locks. We have a security system, but it hasn't worked in months."

"Would that be common knowledge, ma'am?"

She considered for a moment. "No, I don't think so. The library isn't exactly a place that attracts robbers. We don't have much of value. Some of the older books probably have some monetary value, to collectors, but the truly valuable books are in other collections. And I suppose you saw, but there's not really much else a burglar would want."

The officer nodded. "Computers are usually good targets, but the ones I saw out there would be more trouble than they're worth. No offense." She smiled, and he continued. "You said some of the older books would be valuable. I guess that's what the unknown was after." He indicated the smashed case. "It looks like he was interrupted, and there was a fight. Do you have a security officer?"

She shook her head. "No. I suppose there might have been two of them, and they argued," she said ingenuously. It would do no good to bring Shadow into this. "Or that silly vigilante you read about in the papers." Silly indeed, and if he knew what was good for him, he better have gotten himself over to get his shoulder seen to.

"That's possible, ma'am," said the officer, grinning. "He seems to go in for this sort of thing. Can you tell me what's missing? The other lady said a book had been taken, but she wasn't... ah, clear... about which one."

"Certainly." She started investigating, comparing the books to a mental inventory. "It was one of our oldest books, those are the only ones we keep in the cases..."

As she looked, the officer checked another note he'd made. "You said you're one of the head librarians, ma'am? How many others?"

"Just one. My brother, Shadow."

"Shadow?"

She laughed lightly. "Blame our parents." Then she frowned. "That's odd."

"We'll need to speak to him as well. When will he come in?" He paused. "What's odd?"

"Oh, he won't be in today, he fell off his motorcycle yesterday and banged himself up a bit. Nothing serious, but since we're never terribly busy, he decided to stay home today. I can give you his cell phone number." It was an innocent enough lie they'd agreed on; by the time the police found him to talk to him, he'd have had his injuries seen to. "But I can't imagine why they took that book."

"Which book? You've determined which one was missing?"

She nodded. "Hyrule: A History'. It's hardly the most valuable book we have, and there's very little interest in it." And it wasn't like some of the other books, it wasn't irreplaceable, so it couldn't have been taken for a collector. Not even Rex Gant, who collected Hyrule.

The officer looked faintly puzzled. "What's that, mythology of some sort? Fairy stories?" And that wasn't an uncommon thought about that book, when anyone bothered to think of it.

"In a way, yes," she said with a sad smile. "If you don't need me anymore for the moment, I'll be at the desk."

"That's fine, ma'am. We'll be here a little while longer, and you'll have to close this room while we're collecting evidence."

She nodded, and left them to it. Then she went to the circulation desk with a thoughtful expression. 'Hyrule: A Histoy.' Not exactly a book that everyone would be interested in. In fact, a book hardly anyone at all was interested in. Her and Shadow, and perhaps Rex Gant, and maybe one or two other people. And what Shadow had said, the thief knew what he was after. Of the people with a legitimate interest, Rex Gant had been known to use underhanded methods of getting what he wanted, but he'd never shown any particular interest in that book before.

She wondered. And after a moment, she used the desk phone to dail Shadow's cell phone, speaking quietly. "It's me. ... You were right, only one thing. ... The Hyrule book. ... I don't think so. He'd have made an offer first. ... No, I think this is something else. I don't know. ... Do me a favor. Keep an eye out for anything... oh, odd. ... No. If I knew, I'd tell you, but it's just a feeling. ... All right. How's your shoulder? ... I know you don't want to, and if we had any more, I wouldn't make you. ... Yes. ... All right. Give her my best. ... And Sh-Shadow? Be careful. I think this might be bigger than we thought."


	19. Email Tag

**Author's Note:** Since there wasn't much going on last chapter I decided to go ahead and put up this chapter... not that there's much going on in it, either. There's a bunch of structural plotty bits I have to get through before I can get back to the action. Sorry. Also, for some reason, uploading stuff takes out any formatting like file names or email addresses. It's annoying.

As always, the fanfic muse feeds on reviews. So please feed her.

I didn't own any of this yesterday and I still don't own it. And I have even less money than I did yesterday. So please to not sue.

* * *

To: tsage  
From: oncefuturehero  
Subject: Weirdness

I kinda need some advice, and the Oracle Foundation seems like the best bet.

A week or so ago, a guy I know pointed me at a job for the Metro Transit Authority. Somehow or another a big lizard was running around the subway tunnels, setting fire to stuff, eating the cement. It's called a dodongo, I think? I did some research, I think it's from like the Hyrule period. I took care of it, but last night, he called me back, because there was suddenly a whole nest of the things. I had to go back out there (and let me tell you, Mr. Gant was pissed about that). The crazy thing is, I checked that whole place out last week, with the first dodongo, and they weren't there before. They infested the subway in less than a week. I took most of 'em out, there was some other weirdness too.

But I got down deep in the tunnels, and there was this huge dodongo! Like, that thing could and probably had munched entire subway trains. It was thirty feet tall. I can't figure out how the thing got down there in the first place without anyone knowing about it. I was able to kill it, so that's okay, but there was something else. It was like this... hole, or something. Like someone had just sort of ripped reality open. I think some of the things in the subway were getting through there. When I killed the ginormous dodongo, it sort of sealed itself up. Disappeared like it was never there, except for this red crystal it left behind. Everything else, the dodongos and such, disappeared too.

It kind of seems important, so... Do you guys know what the hell is going on and what do I do about it?

- Ronin

* * *

To: tsage  
From: gant  
Subject: Advice

There was a most unexpected occurrance at my apartment building last night. For reasons I have not been able to determine, the whole building suffered a power failure and was practically overrun with hostile creatures, little better than vermin. However, as I am in a position to know, every single creature was from the age of Hyrule, commonly held to be extinct. Two varieties of skulltulla, deku scrubs, and deku babas are the ones I was able to identify. There were some other creatures, spiderlike things, that I have never encountered in my research.

There was also a giant variant of those things in the parking garage. It did quite a bit of damage before it was put down. Due to the power failure, I was unable to see if this was there the whole time, but when the lights came back on, they revealed what appeared to be a "tear in reality", to use a hackneyed science fiction concept. Upon the giant spider's death, both it and the tear disappeared over a period of perhaps five or ten minutes. It left behind a small green crystal, which I have in my possession. After this, the other creatures seemed to vanish as well, leaving only a sort of green dust behind.

If you have any information about this matter, I would greatly appreciate it.

Rex Gant  
CEO Gamelon Enterprises

* * *

To: oncefuturehero  
CC: gant  
From: tsage  
Subject: Recent Occurrances  
Attachments: gohmajpg, kingdodongojpg, barinadejpg

Mr. Ronin, Mr. Gant -

You should share the information you have of the recent circumstances of which you have made us aware with each other. They are far too similar to be unrelated. And the implications are grave enough that a course of action must be determined. There is also some indication there might be a third, similar instance.

We have attached files that might be relevant. They are scans of pages from "Hyrule: A History." The original copy, housed in the Metropolitan Library rare books collection, was stolen last night. We are currently investigating this further, and will keep you apprised of any relevant developments. The Oracle Foundation also has digital scans of the entire book, should you deem this information necessary or useful.

The timing of these events in relation to the timing of the theft of the Stone of Ages is troubling, and suggests that they could be related. We are still conducting research into the powers of the Stone of Ages, but circumstances are suggestive.

We will contact you with further developments and information.

- The Oracle Foundation  
"Without wisdom, power is cruel. Without courage, wisdom is meaningless."


	20. Comparing Notes

**Author's Note:** Gah, forgot to put this on before I uploaded. I apologize if this causes confusion. Anyway, the plot moves some more. If slowly. You have no idea how long this thing is going to be. And the plot sometimes slows down to a crawl and refuses to go faster. But we're getting there. If slowly.

Please to feed the fanfic muse with juicy reviews.

Still don't own this, wish I did. Please don't sue. I have no monies to give.

* * *

The receptionist at the Gamelon Building looked up as Link came in. "Oh. You're the one with the thesis."

Link nodded. "Yes, I was hoping to get another interview with Mr. Gant. Is he in yet?"

The receptionist still didn't think he belonged in this building. "He is. Did you make an appointment? Mr. Gant is a very busy man."

Link tried very hard not to roll his eyes. "No, I didn't make an appointment. I was hoping I might could slip in if he has a few minutes free."

She wasn't impressed. And the look she gave him said volumes about her opinion of someone who'd try to 'slip in' to the schedule of the CEO of one of the most successful corporations in the world. "I'll ask, but I don't think he'll be amused." She picked up the phone. "Mr. Gant? I'm sorry to disturb you. That graduate student would like a followup interview. He doesn't have an appointment." She glared at Link again as she said that. Then her expression changed. "I see. Yes sir." She hung up and pointed at the elevator. "Mr. Gant will see you. In the future, please make an appointment. Mr. Gant can't always be expected to have a spare moment."

"Gotcha. Appointment." Link escaped into the elevator and spent the trip up to the executive officies wondering if it wouldn't be easier just to meet Gannondorf at his apartment. Sure, Link's apartment was a mess and it was smaller than Gannondorf's office, but at least he didn't have a receptionist. But he'd got up there.

Gannondorf was working on some paperwork, and didn't look up when Link came in. "My receptionist doesn't like you."

"Yeah, well, I'm not exactly the suit and tie type, and she thinks I'm unprofessional because I didn't make an appointment. Here's the Megaton Hammer back." He pulled the weapon out and offered it to Gannondorf. And didn't that just feel like one of the most unnatural things he'd ever done in his life.

"I trust you've dealt with the dodongos, then, and can now get back to the matter at hand?" Gannondorf took the hammer and carefully laid it on his desk.

"Yeah, the dodongos are gone. Question. Have you checked your email yet this morning?" Because Link had, and he'd got an important one.

"I sent one before I came to the office. I don't recall giving you my email address, so I doubt you sent me one." Gannondorf raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't. But if my email's any indication, you might have gotten something interesting." With his eyebrow still raised, Gannondorf turned to his computer and started logging in. As he did, Link leaned against a wall. "Last night was kind of weird for me. How was it for you?"

"Tell me what you think of this." Gannondorf produced the green crystal he'd recovered and tossed it to Link. His email loaded, and he frowned as he read it.

Link caught the crystal and ran his fingers over it thoughtfully. Then he produced the red crystal he'd found. "I think this is why the Oracle Foundation wanted us to compare notes." He held both crystals up side by side. They weren't of an identical cut, but they were clearly related. "I got mine off a giant dodongo that shouldn't have been there. What about you?"

"A large spider like creature that made itself at home in my parking garage and destroyed a car that cost me a good deal of money." Gannondorf opened the attatchments and looked at them thoughtfully. "In fact, this picture is a good representation of it."

"I didn't look at the attatchments. Lemme see." Link came around to look over Gannondorf's shoulder. "... I know that. I fought that once, ages ago. That's Queen Ghoma."

"The name sounds familiar."

"It was the spider queen that made a nest in the Deku Tree after you cursed it. I don't know if you remember, it was so long ago. It was when you were trying to find the three Spiritual Stones."

Gannondorf hesitated for a moment. "I understand if you blame me for what I did. But I won't apologize for it."

Link shrugged with no expression. "I wouldn't expect you to. It was a long time ago. It wouldn't do any good to get into it now. A Deku Sprout grew back eventually." Link shook himself. It had upset him a great deal at the time, but he'd come to terms with it over the years. "It doesn't matter. Anyway, if Queen Ghoma took over your garage, and that really was King Dodongo I fought in the subway, then..." He pointed at the third picture. "I think we should be expecting that one. Barinade."

Gannondorf studied the picture and the accompanying text. "Aquatic?"

"Mm. I haven't heard anything yet, but it'll probably pop up somewhere by the bay, if it hasn't yet. Ship maybe, or the drydocks." He shook his head. "I'll keep my ears open. Chances are, when it shows, they'll call me, if that one guy doesn't get it first."

"Competition?" Gannondorf sounded amused.

Link shrugged. "Something like that, although he does keep my workload managable. You know that vigilante that pops up in the papers every now and then? That guy. Sometimes he gets into my territory. But not really in my way usually. It just might make it a little hard to get to Barinade first." He considered the crystals he was still holding. "I want to hold on to these for a little while. There's someone I can ask about them." Because he had a thought, and he wanted confirmation.

"I assume that you trust this person, and they've done you some good in the past." Gannondorf shrugged. "We can negotiate who gets what magical artifact later."

"I trust her. And she knows what she's talking about, when you can get sense out of her." Link studied the crystals again. "If you got a crystal, I'm betting you had one of those holes in reality things. And I think the Oracle Foundation is right, this has gotta be connected to the Stone of Ages. It's too... neat."

"I had considered that, yes."

Link was quiet for a moment. "I've got a feeling. I think this is only the beginning."


	21. An Old Friend

**Author's Note:** Holy cow, I live. I don't mean to keep getting sidetracked and stop updating. Really, I don't. Life just likes to eat me, sometimes. But I will finish this bastard, even if it may not be all that timely. Part of the problem is that the actiony bits are often fairly easy to do, but then there are lots of just plotty bits that take a little more determination to get out. And sometimes I just plain get stuck. Or distracted. That happens a lot too.

Anyway. This part's up now, hopefully the next one won't be so long in coming. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews, please feed the muse.

And Legend of Zelda and the associated characters don't belong to me, and I'm not making any money, as per usual. So no suings.

* * *

Shadow stood at the edge of the park, trying to think of any acceptable reason to not go any farther. Their old friend was nice, but... well, she'd always been the sort of person he couldn't stand. But his sister was right, he needed his shoulder seen to, and a hospital wouldn't do. He sighed. He couldn't get _out_ of it, so the best thing to do was get it _over_ with.

The park was empty. It always was, at this hour of the morning. Right now, that was a plus. It meant Shadow didn't have to be careful not to be seen. Oh, he was sure some other people in the city had stumbled across the place, but most wouldn't have any idea what they'd found, and would forget it. Only children, heroes, and people like Shadow knew what was in the most remote part of the area.

There were hardly any more natural caves left, especially in the city. But there was a large sunken drainage grate that never stayed in place, and a drop of only five or six feet to get underground. Getting back up again might be hard, depending on what she could do for his shoulder. He'd worry about that later.

The drop jarred his injured shoulder, and he bit back several choice words. He had to lean against the damp concrete wall for a few minutes and wait for the pain to recede a bit before he could continue on. At least it wasn't far. There was a passage off the main tunnel that you couldn't see unless you were looking for it, and the concrete gave way to natural stone. The change was so gradual you often didn't notice it. But you did notice when the passage opened up into a large cavern.

Shadow didn't know how she'd managed to find this last natural cave in the city; perhaps it was some instinct. He paused at the entrance. He might not like her, but he did admire the beauty of her home. The shallow white marble pool was faintly luminous, softly lighting the pillars that were older than time. The fairy fountain always seemed restful to him, and a damn sight more natural than the city above.

Of course, she had to go and spoil his contemplation.

She appeared, as always, without warning. The Great Fairy lounged against nothing at all, looking down at Shadow with a benevolently amused expression. "Why is it that no one ever comes to see me unless they want something?" she giggled. "You haven't been to see me in a long time. Even the little Hero visits more often than you, and he's always so busy."

Shadow shrugged carefully. "Our personalities don't exactly mesh well. To be frank, I wouldn't be here now if my sister didn't insist." Perhaps that was too blunt, but the Great Fairy was never offended by the truth. "She sends her regards, by the way."

The Great Fairy giggled again. "Oh, she hardly ever comes to see me! I think she's only ever been here once. And that was only because you almost got yourself killed."

"She has a lot to do. I'm sure she would visit more if she didn't have to keep track of so much."

Almost as an afterthought, she blew a kiss at him, and a gentle wave of healing magic spread through him. The pain in his shoulder eased sharply as the broken bones and torn muscles reknit. He let out a careful breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The Great Fairy laughed. "You're almost as bad as the Hero. Why do boys lead such dangerously interesting lives?"

Shadow gingerly moved his arm around, testing his shoulder. It was still sore, and probably would be for a few days, but that wasn't anything he couldn't handle. "Occupational hazard."

"Well, of course~! I suppose you were playing with the old forces that have come back, like in the old days." She never seemed to stop giggling, which was part of what Shadow found disagreeable about her. "You'll have to be more care~ful!"

Something she'd said caught his attention. "Old forces?"

The Great Fairy shrugged vaguely. "There are _echoes_." She rolled over in midair and looked at him upside-down. "You should visit more. And give your sister my love. Tell her to come see me, I miss her."

"What echoes?" Shadow persisted. Sometimes, it could be nearly impossible to get anything useful out of her. That was another thing he found aggravating.

"You know. Echoes of the old places." Another giggle. "You're so silly! You know~." Before he could respond to that, something else occurred to her. "Would you be a nice little hero and get rid of that thing in the tunnels? I don't like it being so close. I can't sleep." Then she vanished with another shriek of laughter, leaving Shadow with more questions than he had come in with.

He sighed. And they wondered why he didn't like coming here. He made his way back out to the drainage grate and started to climb up. Then there was a faint noise, further down the tunnel, and Shadow paused. The thing in the tunnels, the Great Fairy had said. If there was something bad down there, it would be better to take care of it before someone got hurt. His shoulder was healed, so he wasn't at a disadvantage now.

Normally, he'd have gone looking for it without a second thought. He protected people; that was what drove him. But the drainage tunnels lead into the sewers, and it was unlikely many people would encounter whatever was there. And with everything else that was going on, it might be better to leave it for someone else. His interference might not fit in with his sister's plans.

Oh, why was he even pretending he wasn't going to take care of this? His sister would understand, and if he was honest with himself, he knew she'd do the same thing in his place. He dropped lightly from the grate and ventured deeper into the drainage system.


	22. Echoes

**Author's Note:** Oh look! Another chapter! And within a semi-decent amount of time, too! Short chapter this time, but we'll get back to the action in the next chapter. Unfortunately, that means more fun with the Great Fairy. XD But not too much more.

Anyway. The fanfic muse feeds on reviews. Please feed the muse.

I don't own Legend of Zelda, or any of the characters or items therein, and I'm not making any money off this. Suing is bad.

* * *

Link was glad it was still sort of early. That meant there was no one around to ask awkward questions about why he was lurking in the overgrown area of the park. He'd tried coming here, before, when there had been more people around, and it hadn't ended well. People tended to look upon grown men skulking in the undergrowth around a drainage ditch with suspicion. They always thought he was up to something. And he was, just... not what they assumed.

The grate was half off again; some careless maintenence worker or a curious and bored teenager had been here before. Worked for him, that meant he didn't have to pry the thing up. He jumped down lightly, then waited a moment while his eyes adjusted to the dark. One of these days he'd remember to bring a flashlight with him.

The delay wasn't much, and soon he was making his way through the tunnels to the little offshoot. He didn't even have to look for the fork anymore; the little ripple of fairy magic was enough to tell him he was there. He ducked into the fairy fountain and looked around.

As always, she didn't give him a chance to announce himself. She appeared suddenly in her customary fashion. "Oh, how nice~! Everyone is visiting me today~!" She laughed. "Have you been hurting yourself too?"

He blinked for a moment, puzzled by her choice of words, then shrugged and attributed it to the Great Fairy being the Great Fairy. "Not recently, except for some sore ribs."

"Well, we can't have that~" She blew a kiss at him. Oh, hey, that was nice. Fairy healing was very convenient sometimes. "So you just came to visit~?"

"Sort of." He carefully dug the two crystals out of his pocket. "There's been some weirdness going on. Like Hyrule's sort of trying to come back, if that makes any sense. But it can't, can it?" He held the crystals up so she could see them better. "Found these, and I was hoping you could tell me more about them."

She giggled. "Silly boy~! You _ought_ to know~! You really don't recognize the _echoes_? You sho~uld. You were _there_~"

He blinked. "Echoes? What do you mean, echoes?"

She giggled. "Echoes~!" She leaned down and touched the green crystal, and a tiny spark of magic was visible. Suddenly, the cavern was filled with the distant sound of children laughing, the wind blowing through the trees, and the unmistakable sound of fairy chimes. As it died away, she did the same thing to the red crystal. This time, the sounds were of crackling fires, deep-voiced grunts, and peculiarly heavy footsteps. "See~? _Echoes_~!"

Link stared at her, then at the crystals in his hand for a full minute before it clicked. It felt like the world dropped out from under him, and he was hit with a wave of homesickness stronger than he'd ever felt. "You mean... Echoes... of the Kokiri? And the Gorons?"

"Mhmm~!"

"But... how?"

"Ask her, she'd know~"

Link's eyelid twitched a little. Aaaaaaand here they went, into the whole obscure advice part. "Her who?"

"Oh, you know~ _Her_." She stretched. "So good of you to see me, little Hero~. Come again soon~!"

"But-" She cut him off with a peal of laughter and vanished. Link gritted his teeth. Wasn't that always the way?


End file.
